Chloe Smith MP: Day 1 in New Role - Increasing Accountability in Government

5^th September 2012 11:30am Chloe Smith MP was Answering Questions at the Despatch Box in New Role

Member of Parliament for Norwich North, Chloe Smith, today got stuck into her new role as Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office.

Chloe will be responsible for civil service reform amongst other topics. On her first day in the job, she faced oral questions in Parliament and spoke about the need to abolish and reform quangos.

As a Norwich MP, Chloe meets households and businesses every week who are tightening their budgets and looking for value for money and she believes the Government has the duty to do the same.

In 2010, the Government inherited a bloated quangocracy that had spiralled out of control. Not only were these unaccountable bodies costing the taxpayer billions, but they were duplicating bureaucracy.

Chloe is looking forward to continuing the robust efforts to enable departments to deliver long-overdue reforms by closing down unnecessary public bodies. The changes that have already been made will save £1.4 billion, but by 2015 the Government will save the taxpayer a total of more than £2.6 billion – that’s more than £150 per working household.

The Government has shut down a total of 106 of the hundreds of public bodies it inherited so far, and additionally enabled more than 150 bodies to be merged into fewer than 70. This will save the taxpayer £2.6 billion in this parliament.

Chloe commented today:

"I'm delighted to get stuck into this new role in Westminster. I have always taken pride in serving my constituents and will carry on doing that as a priority.

"I speak to many people in Norwich who want to see unaccountable quangos brought under control. In my first day in a new role I am pleased to speak up for my constituents and continue the work of increasing accountability, cutting duplication and reducing costs in government.

 “Households and businesses across the city are tightening their belts and they rightly expect the Government to do the same.”